


Undeniable

by Laima



Category: Rune Factory (Video Games), Rune Factory 4
Genre: F/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 09:26:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3564581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laima/pseuds/Laima
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dylas needs to come to terms with the fact that Frey is in love with Vishnal - and it's too late for her to develop the feelings toward Dylas that he has for her. Thankfully, his housemate is a little wiser than Dylas previously thought.</p>
<p>Rated T for language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Undeniable

“Congratulations!” Kiel chirped, bouncing on the balls of his feet when Frey walked into view, winning raisin bread in hand.

She grinned. “Thank you so much! Maybe next year you’ll get me,” she said, elbowing him gently.

“You did so well, honey!” Vishnal practically squealed, “I knew you’d win!”

“Well, it’s good at least one of the lovebirds can cook so they don’t starve to death” Leon smirked.

“Ohh, hush,” Frey smiled. “By the way, your belt’s on backwards.”

Doug oooh’d as the smarmy fox turned pink with embarrassment.

“Congrats,” I muttered quietly so the princess wouldn’t hear me, but she beamed at me like I had just given her a diamond ring.

_Shut up, that would never happen. She wouldn’t want that._

“Thanks, Dylas!” she said, before turning to Vishnal to reassure him once more that he was a suitable butler, even with abysmal cooking skills.

“It’s just - who would ever hire me?”

“I would, darling, don’t you worry. Most people have cooks and butlers, so there’s no need to stress.”

“She’s absolutely right, in my kingdom they were entirely separate professions,” Arthur chimed in.

“See?”

“Well…”

Frey stood on her tiptoes to kiss her butler on the cheek. “Shhh. I love you.”

Vishnal and I both turned bright red, and I could feel the heat of shame washing over me as I caught myself wishing again that that was me.

Leon wolf whistled and Arthur laughed politely as Vishnal stuttered out “I - I care about you very much, as well, honey.”

_Coward. Just tell her you love her. She deserves at least that._

Doug was humping the air obnoxiously, and deserved the karate chop to the gut I delivered.

“OW, YOU HORSEDICK!”

_What a drama queen._

Luckily the dwarf’s hissyfit distracted everyone in the square from the sickeningly sweet couple giggling at each other’s dumb comments.

I caught Frey pushing hair out of Vishnal’s eyes before she reached up to kiss him again out of the corner of my eye and I felt like kicking Doug’s shin.

I might have given into that temptation.

➽➽➽

 

“Dylas?” Arthur was standing in the doorway to my bedroom in his robe.

I looked up from my book. “Huh?”

_How eloquent I am._

“May I come in?”

“Sure,” I grunted.

He sighed and sat at my desk. I sat up in my bed and put my book on my nightstand, face-down.

“Ah - you shouldn’t do that, it’s bad for the spine,” he got up and carefully readjusted my book. I raised an eyebrow. Arthur coughed, and sat back down on my chair.

“I came to talk to you.”

“Obviously.”

_Wow, that came out meaner than I meant._

Arthur didn’t seem to pay any mind.

“I… I’m worried about you, Dylas. You seem… angrier than usual.”

“Well, jeez, Arthur, I dunno, maybe if all _your_ family and friends were dead, you’d be angry, too.”

He looked shocked.

_Fucking hell._

“Hey, Art, I… I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, no, it’s completely understandable, I cannot begin to fathom the magnitude of the situation you’re in right now, I apologize-”

“No, don’t. I’m sorry."

An awkward pause.

"What were you gonna say before?”

He readjusted his glasses and sighed.

“I’m worried you have a higher expectation of your relationship with the princess than what is currently viable.”

_Shitshitshitshit._

“What would make you think that?” I blurted out angrily.

Arthur smiled gently, that smart bastard.

“A lot of things. Would you like to talk about it?”

I clenched my jaw and stared the blonde prince down.

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Oh, no, of course not. Naturally, however, I can’t re-release what the town already knows-”

“Shut up.” I scoffed.

_Have I really been that obvious?_

“So, when did you first start to develop feelings for Frey?”

I shrugged.

Arthur hesitated for a moment, then began again.

“I remember I had a little crush on her, once.”

I shot up. “You did?”

He laughed. “Ohh, yes. It was quite some time ago, when we had first met. It must have been a year ago, now that I think of it.”

“And?”

“And what? Nothing ever became of it, obviously. I got over it quickly, she had better things to be doing with her time, as did I. Besides, she and Vishnal always seemed-”

“Can we please-” I interjected, making myself sound so obviously guilty I made myself blush.

“I know, I know. It’s always hard.” Arthur got up quietly from the chair and sat at the foot of my bed. I moved my feet to make room for him and sighed deeply.

“I just wonder… I just wonder if,” I stammered.

“Yes?” Arthur nodded.

“I just wonder, if I had been freed earlier, if that would have made a difference. If I was here before her, then she could have met me and gotten to know me and maybe she would’ve,” I sighed. There was no going back now. “Maybe she would’ve picked me.”

Arthur looked out the window as he readjusted his glasses again.

“While time is an important element in many things - relationships included - I am not sure if your fears are justified.”

My heart sank.

“So you mean she’d never have liked me?”

“No, no, no,” he backpedaled, “I just… don’t think it’s worth worrying your days and nights over. What’s done is done. Frey is not an unfaithful woman, nor is she one who changes her course.”

I felt my shoulders slump as I leaned against the wall. I know he was trying to help but…  _but that’s the worst thing he could’ve said to me._

“I apologize, Dylas,” he said softly. “I just thought you needed to hear it from someone else.”

“No, I get it.” I mumbled.

He put a hand on my knee. “Anything else you’d like to say before I leave you be?”

I bit my lip.

“I just… humans don’t live as long as earthmates.”

“That is true,” Arthur mused.

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to understand.

“So,” I prompted.

“So… Vishnal won’t be around for Frey forever.”

“That’s right.”

“Dylas, I don’t think you should wait around for the next eighty-”

“I never said I would!” I snapped, angry at him for misunderstanding. “I just don’t want her to get hurt. That’s the only way this will end. Vishnal will die and Frey will get hurt because she chose to fall in love with- with some human!”

Arthur didn’t say anything.

“And you know who else will die? _Everyone_. Nancy, Jones, Kiel, Forte, _you_! She’ll have to go through… go through…”

“Exactly what you did?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… I think you know she won’t.”

I huffed. “That’s not the point. The other guardians and I will probably still be here, but that’s not who she cares the most about.”

“And Margaret, Illuminata, and Volkanon. You forget they’re elves.”

“Well,” I conceded.

“And Doug and Bado. Dwarves lead longer lives than humans.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, are you kidding? I have to deal with that rat bastard for the next century?”

Arthur was clearly waiting for me to stop bitching. So I did.

He sighed again, and took off his glasses to clean them on his robe.

“You are right, Dylas. In a few decades’ time, many of these town’s valuable members will be gone. The man preparing to propose to Frey will be, as well.”

My face went red as I stammered an objection, but Arthur shushed me.

“He asked me about it the other day. Don’t tell a soul, or I’ll skin you.”

I closed my mouth.

“And I will be, as well,” he said, calmly for a man commenting on his own mortality. “But not everyone will be. Not only that, but Frey and all you other earthmates will get to spend so, so much more time with these townsfolk than the ones you were taken away from. You have years and years. And you’ll get to say your proper goodbyes to everyone, one by one.”

Images of Arthur, Porcoline, Clorica, Blossom, Jones, Nancy - all on their deathbeds flooded my brain and I shook my head to try to forget them before their imaginary sickly faces branded themselves into my memory.

Arthur continued. “Will that be hard for Frey, and for everyone? Yes, it will. Of course it will. But that’s life, Dylas. There’s always going to be pain when something you love is taken from you. And I know you want to protect Frey from that feeling you know so well, but you can’t.”

“Well, if she married me-”

“If she married you, then one of you would still have to go first. Unless you went Romeo and Juliet style, I suppose,” he trailed off.

“Romundo and _what_?” I snapped, and Arthur shook his head.

“Oh, sorry, a story from long ago across the ocean, I apologize,” he looked at me again. “But anyways. Dylas, it’s noble that you care about Frey so much, and don’t want her to go through what you have. But unfortunately for all of us, it’s highly unavoidable.” He patted my knee once, and got up.

“All you can do now is be happy for her, be a good friend, and help her when those times come. Okay?”

_Ugh, you sound like my mom._

“Okay,” I grumbled, knowing full well he was entirely right.

“And Dylas?” he stopped in the doorway.

“Yeah?”

“Even though it was a misunderstanding at first… I do wonder…”

“Wonder what?”

“Well, I’m not sure of the customs here, but in my kingdom is is quite common for a widow to remarry.”

I snorted.

“I’m not saying you should, but… You never know. However, if I were you, I’d pay a bit more attention to the way Doug is treating you before you took a vow to wait out Vishnal’s existence for your own happiness,” he said, winking, as he shut the door.

_Wha-_

_**DOUG?** _


End file.
